Overhead bottle guide for alpha labeling machine



Aug. 15, 1933. J o FENNER OVERHEAD BOTTLE GUIDE FOR A LABELING MACHINE Filed Feb. 9, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1.

J'ames 0. Fen/var.

Whiz

Aug. 15, 1933. J 0, FENNER 1,922,576

OVERHEAD BOTTLE GUIDE FOR A LABELING MACHINE Filed Feb. 9, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1a 3 3 19 -Jbmes0 l cnnen 24 17 21 liilmlih wanna v Patented Aug. 15, 1933 UNITED STATES OVERHEAD BOTTLE GUIDE FOR A LABELING MACHINE James O. Fenner, Worcester, Mass, assignor to Economic Machinery Company, Worcester,

Mass, a Corporation of Massachusetts Application February 9,

8 Claims.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in overhead bottle guide for a labeling machine by which the bottle is supported at its upper end during its travel through the machine.

While in the following description, I use the term bottle as the article being operated upon, it will be readily understoodthat the same principle can be applied to jars, glasses, and in fact, all types of containers upon which it is desired to place a label. The term bottle should not, therefore, be construed in a limiting sense.

In disclosing my invention on the attached sheets of drawings, I have shown the same applied to the well known type of straightaway labeling machine which is clearly shown in the patent to Ekvall Patent No. 1,630,235, issued May 24, 1927. Here again, I wish it to be understood that my invention is equally adapted for use in other types of labelers and, therefore, the shown straightaway type is merely illustrative and should not in any sense be considered as a limitation.

In the prior Patent No. 1,630,235, the bottles movement the labeling operations are effected. During each of the label applying operations, it will be noted that the bottle merely rests on the bottom track and against the back rails. This has been found to be entirely satisfactory when the bottle and its contained goods are of sufiicient weight to offset any tendency of vibration or movement incident to the labeling operation, but when the bottle is of small and relatively light type, serious difiiculty has been encountered.

It is, therefore, the main, object of the present invention to provide a guiding structure which affords a support for the article being operated 40 upon.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable guide so that the machine may be said to handle any given type of article or bottle.

Another object is to provide a guide which may readily be detached and substituted with another guide of larger or smaller size to accommodate articles of larger or smaller top diameters.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a longitudinally adjustable guide by which the structure may be adjusted into its proper position in keeping with the operating positions of the various labeling stations in the machine.

A further object and aim of the invention is to provide a yieldable frictional grip within the are transmitted through the machine in a step. by step fashion and between each interval of.

1932. Serial No. 591,906

guide, which tends to maintain the article against movement at the various labeling stations in the machine. I

These and other objects will readily present themselves to those skilled in this art when the following description is read in connection with the drawings wherein I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention.

In these drawings similar letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention showing the same in applied position and a bottle in transit through the machine, although the labeling instrumentalities have been omitted for clarity;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the guide as shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the guide taken on line 3--3, Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of the guide and portions of its supporting structure shown in full lines.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, 1--1 indicates the upright frame structures which appear at the inlet and outlet ends of the machine shown in the patent above mentioned, and it is to these structures that I prefer to attach my improvement, although other forms of support may be provided if so desired. The bottle trackway 2 and the grip fingers 3--3 are suggested in Figure 1, but as these are covered in another application, no claim for this structure is made herein. These structures are merely shown to properlyillustrate my invention.

In order that the bottle guide 4 be centrally disposed over or aligned with the trackway 2, I provide blocks or bars 55 which are rigidly fastened to the upright frames, as at 66. Each of these bars 55 are grooved as suggested at 7-7 to receive the vertical leg of the yoke members 8-8. These yoke members are slotted as at 9 to enable the members to be vertically adjusted, and to maintain them in their adjusted positions a clamp bolt is used, as shown at 10.

The horizontal arms of the yoke members are apertured as at 11-11 to slidably receive a vertically extending rod 12. This rod 12 is yieldably maintained in its lowermost position by a contractile spring 13 which is anchored at its lower end to the yoke member as at 14 and attached at its upper end to a pin 15 carried by the rod 12. The upper end of the rod 12 is threaded to receive nut members 16 by which the said rod may be limited more or less in its downward or lowered position.

The lower end of the rod 12 is provided with outstanding lugs or bearings 17 which are adapted to fit within the hooked end of strap members 1818. One of these strap members 18 is rigidly attached to the bottle guide 4, and the other member 18 is capable of adjustment, as suggested in Figures land 3 of the drawings. The adjustable strap member is slotted as at 19 through which the double headed rivet passes. The end of the strap member is also slotted as at 21 to receive the stud 22 which is threaded at its upper end to receive the clamping nut 23.

The bottle guide 4 is channel shaped, as clearly shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, and secured within the bottom wall of the channel are a series of fiat springs 24. Each of these springs are preferably attached at one end, as suggested at 25. The purpose of these springs is to produce pressure on the top of the bottle or article being labeled. The bottle guide 4 is longitudinally adju'sted so that the action of the flat springs against the top of the bottle comes, into play while the bottle is opposite each of the labeling stations in the machine. In other words, after the grip fingers have released and receded from their holding position against the bottles, these springs will then exert a suiiicient downward pressure on the bottle to hold it against movement when the various labeling operations are effected.

In the operation of the machinethe bottles are positioned upon the trackway with the upper end of the article or bottle within the channelled guide 4. The grip fingers then convey the bottle in a step by step fashion to present said bottle to the several labeling stations in the machine. As the bottle is brought to its position of rest opposite each station, the fiat springs 24 exert a downward pressure on the bottle which tends to maintain it against movement during the actions of the labeling mechanisms thereon. The channelled guide 4 is yieldably maintained in its lowermost position and may be manually raised in case of an upset of one of the bottles in the machine. Also the substitution of the properly sized channel guide may readily be made through the simplified detachable connection. The guide 4 is also capable of vertical adjustment to accommodate bottles of any particular height.

What I claim is:

1. A bottle guiding structurefor a labeling machine comprising a channel-shaped member adapted to receive-the upper portion of a bottle and guide the same through the machine, a vertically adjustablesupport for maintaining said channel-shaped member at its desired elevation in the machine, and a detachable connection between the said member and its support.

2. A bottle guiding structure for a labeling machine comprising a channeled member adapted to receive the upper portion of a bottle and guide the same through the machine, a yoke member adjustably secured to the labeling machine, a rod slidably mounted in said yoke member and a detachable connection between said rod and the channeled member.

3. A bottle guiding structure for a labeling machine comprising a channeled member adapted to receive the upper portion of a bottle and guide the, same through the machine, a yoke member, a rod slidably mounted in said yoke member, and a detachable connection between said rod and said channeled member.

4. A bottle guiding structure for a labeling machine comprising a channel-shaped member adapted to receive the upper portion of a bottle and guide the same through the machine, a vertically adjustable support and a member slidably, mounted in said support and connected with the channel-shaped member for maintaining said channel-shaped member at its desired elevation in the machine.

5. A'bottle guiding structure for a labeling machine comprising a channel-shaped member adapted to receive the upper portion of a bottle and guide the same through the machine, a vertically adjustable support and a member slidably mounted in said support for maintaining said channel-shaped member at its desired elevation in the machine, and a detachable connection between said slidable member and the channel-shaped member. a

6; A bottle guiding structure for a labeling machine comprising a channel-shaped member tion between said rod and the channel-shaped member.

8. A bottle guiding structure for a labeling machine comprising a channel-shaped member adapted to receive the upper portion of a bottle and guide the same through the machine, a yoke member adjustably secured to the labeling machine, a spring projected rod slidably mounted in' said yoke member, means for limiting the projection of said rod, and a connection between the rod and the channel-shaped member.

JAMES O. FENNER. 

